…vacation reading

this was a rec from daily candy, which i read first since it was the lightest in spirits- totally hilarious fiction and interesting hard to put down…

this book– was by far my favorite- and was recommended by several people, including my hubby, who finished it right before i dug in… and let me say i will be purchasing vibram five fingers this weekend and am ready to go out and run ultra marathons (ok… i wish on the ultra part… but seriously, i can’t wait to increase my mileage this fall!)

favorite quotes (so hard to pick 3!):

“you don’t have to be fast… you just have to be fearless”

“no wonder so many people hated running; if you thought it was only a means to an end- an investment in becoming faster, skinnier, richer- then why stick with it if you weren’t getting enough quo for your quid?”

“think easy, light, smooth, and fast. you start with easy, because if that’s all you get, that’s not so bad. then work on light. make it effortless, like you don’t give a shit how high the hill is or how far you’ve got to go. when you’ve practiced that so long that you forget you’re practicing, you work on making it smooooooth. you won’t have to worry about the last one- you get those three, and you’ll be fast”

and then i polished off this guy yesterday on the plane- no impact man is all about a guy trying to make less of an environmental impact in a very extreme way… while i can’t say i’ll be turning off my power or only eating foods within 250 miles of chicago, i can say it has made a big “impact” on me- both about happiness in life and ways to help the environment.

favorite quotes (sorry they are long but SO worth it):

“the people most satisfied with life, it turned out, had strong social connections, found meaning in their work, got to exercise what they considered to be their highest talents, and had a sense of some higher purpose… a life lived with less emphasis on acquisition might have the effect of leaving more time for richer, less resource-intensive life rewards, making both the planet and people happier”

“happy people spend a lot of time being grateful for what they have and savoring their experience. they don’t rush through the ‘now’ to get to later. they don’t make taking care of themselves or taking care of their families something they have to get over with so they can get to the good stuff. instead, they insist that this moment, whatever it is, is the good stuff.”

“it’s easier to assume that the purpose of life is to get a good job and a good salary and a good box to live in and another good box to ride in and hope the boxes will keep you safe from everything… we all, i think, want to hide from the questions. i know i do.”

and one other that wasn’t worth finishing, but overall, i feel like i learned a lot (on my honeymoon? yea, maybe a little weird).

i also learned that reading after a few classes of cava… usually means you have to back track a couple of chapters… whoops!!!

let me know if you are interested in any of the 3- i have digital copies of stash and no impact man and the hard copy of born to run!